The acquisition is the latest step towards the two companies merging by 2011. Porsche’s highly publicised takeover of VW collapsed earlier this year and has it been forced into a merger with VW in order to service is multi-billion-euro debt.

VW said: “The combination of the two companies follows a compelling strategic, industrial and financial logic. For the Volkswagen Group, Porsche ideally complements the brand portfolio.

“The Stuttgart-based car maker will allow Volkswagen to further expand its position in the premium business, which offers particularly strong earnings. In turn, as an independent brand under the roof of the Volkswagen Group, Porsche will have the potential for significant additional growth.”

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One thing puzzles me in all this. If Porsche had aquired so many VW shares before this all went belly up, what happened to those shares? Who now owns them, and where does the value of them appear, and in whos balance sheet?

If Porsche had bought the majority of VW shares, and VW has now bought Porsche, aren't VW effectively also buying back their own shares? ... or is this all too simple a logic for the crazy world of finance?

Will we get cheaper Porsches, I doubt it, but hopefull we will get their engineering skill filter through other VW Audi etc products. Especially in the area of ride and handling which VW and Audi don't quite get right.

Interesting point about who now holds all of the VW shares that Porsche brought, but from what I understand, Porsche did not buy them outright but traded in 'Shorts' and speculated on the rise in share value that they artificially created by rumours of the takeover. At the time, VW was one of the only car companies in the world with a growing share value, against other that were crashing. Now that all of this horsing around has ended, most of these share options have gone back to the brokers. Maybe someone else with better knowledge of city trading can shed some light on it?